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Ice dance duo claim bronze

A Canadian won skating silver last night. Unfortunately, it was for the United States.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada perform during the free dance portion of the 2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles, March 27, 2009. They won the bronze medal. (DANNY MOLOSHOK / REUTERS)

The real Canucks — those who didn't go begging for a dual passport from congressional politicians and immigration authorities — finished bronze and thrilled with it.

Could have been a lot worse for Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, No. 2 in ice dancing at the worlds a year ago but with serious challenges overcome between then and now, most especially surgery to both shins for the she-half of the duo, a competitive season all but lost and a flashy last-minute challenge from the second American couple: Just 4 1/100ths of a point made the difference between podium and also-ran.

"We told each other when we went out on the ice that we weren't even going to worry about what the judges had to say,'' Virtue commented afterwards. And for once that didn't sound like loser platitude.

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"We're so pleased with that performance. I think it was the best that we could do. That's really all that matters.''

Added Moir: "Tonight was just about self-accomplishment and skating like we know we can.

"It was a tough season for us, a couple of obstacles in there that we didn't see coming. We had to really work together and I think we're a lot stronger as a team because of it. We definitely learned a lot.

"Third feels great.''

That, too, sounds truthful.

The Virtue & Moir who competed in the free dance last night looked closer to what they were becoming a season ago than they had all week. If gold was out of reach, it was a result of significant errors and under-performance through the compulsory and original dance segments of this event. The couple never did put the blame on six months idling because of Virtue's surgery.

Yet, there was obviously some rust on their unison, and both earlier programs just didn't have enough miles on them.

Last night, though, was different.

The couple went modern rather than classical, skating to Pink Floyd in streamlined black ensembles, showing off exceptional edges and dramatic, contorting lifts.

Ice dance judges really do prefer the European look, however, and operatic or symphonic music. Still, the Canadians were rewarded with a score of 94.51, fourth best in the free dance, and 200.40 overall.

That kept them just a smidge ahead of Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, at 200.36. But this young dance duo looks headed for great things, with a major showdown looming at the Vancouver Olympics.

Second was claimed by Tannith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, yet again denied global gold, though they came awfully close. Belbin — born in Kingston, Ont. — looked as if she thought a championship tiara was in the bag when cameras caught her watching Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin at work.

Instead, the team that had led throughout put up free-dance winning scores, holding off all challengers, and the gold was theirs.

The second Canadian couple, world rookies Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, presented a delicate and charming routine that certainly appeared to find favour with the audience. They finished 12th.

Their story arc was a walk in the park, young couple on a date that may or may not be romantic. The motif was simplicity, from newly designed costumes to demure rather than flamboyant choreography, fitting for a team that's only 17 and 18 years old.

"We wanted to go a little more simple and elegant,'' said Crone, who hails from Aurora.

Their goal here was to show judges and fans that they belong on the senior circuit. "We've gotten a lot of comments this season that we look a little junior-ish — and it was fair,'' Poirier conceded. "So we've tried to mature our image.''

A further part of the maturing challenge was broadening the routine so that it incorporated the crowd, rather than skating only within their own closed world.

"Before, it was kind of just bottled up between us,'' Crone explained.

That's also meant increasing the size of their movements. "Junior tends to skate a bit smaller,'' said Poirier. "Everything isn't done to the maximum, so that's what we really worked on these last few weeks."

He had one small stumble in the circular footwork but otherwise the performance was tidy, earning a mark of 85.08, for a competition total of 173.16.

And that part where Crone seems to slip from Poirier's grip during a rotational lift? That was intentional.

"Every element in our program represents something that we do on this date together. That one is Vanessa climbing a tree. She takes a tumble and I catch her.''

Hopefully, the judges caught it too.

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